Balls, in particular sport balls, such as footballs, comprise a cover with a plurality of panels in many cases, which are sewed, glued or otherwise connected to each other. The panels are nowadays mostly made from plastics, but they may also comprise natural leather.
For example, EP 1 424 105 B1 describes a method for manufacturing three-dimensional parts of a ball, in particular of a football, the parts comprising an outer material and a backing material, as well as a method for manufacturing a ball from such parts.
For the optical design of such balls, the surface of the individual panels and/or of the completely assembled ball may be imprinted or sprayed with color, for example. However, on the one hand, this has the disadvantage that the optical design applied in this manner is rapidly impaired by abrasion or removed due to the influence of kicks, hits, bounces on the floor, etc. On the other hand, this process also only enables a simple two-dimensional optical design with colored patterns, images, graphical characters and the like. Effects which appear three-dimensional are either not achievable or are difficult to achieve in this manner.
In order to avoid the aforementioned abrasion, methods for the optical design of panels of a ball are known in the art which comprise imprinting a foil on its inside. The foil imprinted in this manner may be applied to a panel. Since the optical design elements are located on the inside of the foil, they are protected from abrasion by the foil to a large extent. Moreover, such a foil may also protect the panel of the ball itself from outer influences such as abrasion, moisture, sharp objects, etc.
The aerodynamic properties of the ball made from the panels constitute a further factor to be taken into consideration in the manufacture of panels for balls. It has turned out, particularly with footballs, that a surface of the ball which is too smooth may have a negative effect on the flying properties and result in the ball “chattering”, for example. Furthermore, a surface of a ball which is too smooth may also have negative effects on the usability of the ball, e.g. during a football match on a wet grass pitch.
In order to avoid such effects, various structured surfaces or balls or individual panels of such balls are known in the art.
For example, DE 10 2009 016 287 B3 describes an inflatable ball, in particular a football, with an outer cover comprising a plurality of panels, the panels being connected with each other by seams and each panel comprising a pseudo-seam which extends at least along a part of the outer surface of the panel. Furthermore, DE 10 2009 016 287 B3 discloses that the panels may also comprise a surface texture.
It is a disadvantage of the ball panels or balls, respectively, known in the art, however, that the optical as well as the haptic and aerodynamic aspects are typically influenced by separate elements of the panels and the ball and that a plurality of different manufacturing steps and manufacturing devices are therefore required. This, on the one hand, makes the constructive set-up of such a ball more complicated, and on the other hand, the durability and resilience of the panels and the ball may suffer therefrom.
Based on this prior art, it is therefore a problem underlying the present invention to provide simplified manufacturing methods for ball panels which allow influencing both the haptic and the aerodynamic properties of the panels in an advantageous way and to an improved extent while simultaneously increasing durability and resilience of the panels and the balls manufactured from them against external influences.